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FALL GOOD TIME TO SEARCH FOR NATURAL GARDEN ART
I asked participants in a recent class to identify three woody plant samples. Everyone had a chance to examine each sample as it passed from row to row. When the samples had reached the back of the room, I offered an autographed copy of my book to anyone who could identify all three samples. I finally awarded the book to a woman who correctly identified one of the three items.
Part of the difficulty in identifying the samples was that they were out of context - I had removed the leaves and the only thing participants had to go on was the woody stems.
I selected the three samples from my yard to demonstrate how visually interesting various plants can be when we look at them up close and utilize them in ways that accentuate their most striking characteristics. Finding new ways of looking at and appreciating and using woody plant materials has become sort of a hobby for me. I teach a class titled "Trash to treasure -- creating natural garden art from woody plants." I point out that our yards and gardens contain countless objects of art if we take time to search them out and study them up close.
One of the samples was a 6-ft. stem of gray dogwood (Cornus racemosa). Unless you're familiar with gray dogwood, it would be difficult to identify from just the stem. What I find interesting about gray dogwood is its ability to grow a long skinny stem without bending or breaking in the wind. The 6-ft sample was only about 3/8-inch in diameter at the bottom, thinner at the top. I have used the stems to make trellises, wreaths and ornamental stars. In spring, I've even braided the supple stems to create a more unusual look.
The second sample was incorrectly identified in my class as bamboo. Yes, I admit it certainly looked like bamboo. But I wasn't willing to accept bamboo as a correct answer because bamboo is part of a completely different plant family (Poaceae/grass family) that can't survive Minnesota winters. My plant sample was giant miscanthus (Miscanthus 'Giganteus'). I have grown this 10 ft. grass for years and appreciate it's vigorous growth, occasional flowering (3 years out of 10) and straight, stiff bamboo-like canes that are strong enough for fishing poles and useful in all sorts of craft projects.
The third sample is found everywhere in southern Minnesota. Whenever I have passed this sample around, it has been identified incorrectly as burning bush (Euonymus atropurpureus). It actually is a branch from bur oak (Quercus macrocarpa). The soft, corky, deeply ridged gray bark does somewhat resemble the deeply ridged bark of burning bush but up close, the two stems look quite different. I have also observed that some bur oak trees exhibit much greater bark ridges than others.
A year ago, I had to cut down a bur oak that was growing too close to another and I was so fascinated by the ridgy bark on the upper branches that I saved them for some future craft project. They're still hanging from a rope in my garage awaiting some sort of garden-art inspiration.
One other native plant with garden art potential is Virginia Creeper (Parthenocissus quinquefolia), also called woodbine and American ivy. The pliable vines of Virginia Creeper crisscross my shaded lot to form a 1-ft. tall carpet of the plant's 5-lobed leaves. There's no way to measure it, but I must have several hundred miles of this vine growing on my property. Virginia Creeper also climbs vertically and has completely covered my two arbors. It grows up trees and up the walls of many homes and farm buildings with the aid of its branched tendrils that become modified into disk-shaped suction cups on a wall. In the fall, leafy red strands of Virginia Creeper appear to ignite the ground as well as vertical spaces where vines have climbed buildings or trees.
A year ago, I discovered that the vines and underground roots of Virginia Creeper function sort of like rawhide thong when wrapped around joints of arbors and trellises. I secure the branches with screws or wire, then use the vine wraps to camouflage the mechanical fasteners.
I've mentioned four plants that have interesting visual characteristics and useful properties. Each time I attend an arts and crafts show, I am amazed by the creations and crafts that resourceful people have fabricated from various common plants.
What do you have growing around you that might be shaped into an object of art or something of practical use? Fall is a good time to look around your yard or neighborhood for the raw materials that are just waiting to be crafted into natural garden art.
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PUTTING DOWN ROOTS:
A Delightful Blend of
Gardening Wisdom, Wit
and Whimsy
$10 + $2 for shipping
by Cliff Johnson |
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